System and methods for managing the distribution of electronic content

• US 20020152173A1
• Filed: 04/05/2002
• Published: 10/17/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 04/05/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intertrust Technologies Corporation (Fidelio Acquisition Co LLC)
• Original Assignee: Intertrust Technologies Corporation (Fidelio Acquisition Co LLC)
• Inventors: Rudd, James M.
• Granted Patent: US 7,580,988 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 705/57
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 21/6209 to a single file or object, e.g. in a secure envelope, encrypted and accessed using a key, or with access control rules appended to the object itself

Abstract

The present invention provides systems and methods for transfering electronic information from one location to another such that only one original work exists at a given time. The methods and systems of the present invention allow distribution of originals without requiring a registration authority or other entity to vouch for what constitutes an “original” piece of information, thus reducing (or eliminating entirely) the need to centrally record changes in ownership each time originals change hands.

Claims

1. A method of distributing an electronic work comprising the steps of:

(a) establishing communication between a sender and a receiver;

(b) exchanging authentication information between the receiver and the sender;

(c) moving a copy of the electronic work from the sender to the receiver, the copy of the electronic work having an attribute securely associated with it indicating that it is a copy;

(d) sending a first acknowledgement from the receiver to the sender, the first acknowledgement indicating the receipt of the copy of the electronic work by the receiver'"'"'s site;

(e) receiving, at the sender'"'"'s site, the first acknowledgement, and, responsive thereto, changing an attribute associated with the electronic work to indicate that it is a copy;

(f) sending an authorization from the sender to the receiver authorizing the receiver to change the attribute associated with the copy of the electronic work to indicate that it is an original; and

(g) receiving the authorization at the receiver'"'"'s site, and, responsive thereto, securely changing the attribute associated with the copy of the electronic work to indicate that it is an original,

wherein an instance of the electronic work with an associated attribute indicating that it is a copy is prevented from being successfully passed off as an original.

2. A method as in claim 1, further comprising:

(h) sending a second acknowledgement from the receiver to the sender, the second acknowledgement indicating that the receiver successfully changed the attribute associated with the copy of the electronic work to indicate that it is an original; and

(i) receiving the second acknowledgement at the sender'"'"'s site.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the sender'"'"'s site and the receiver'"'"'s site each have protected computing environments, the protected computing environments being operable to substantially impede users of the sender'"'"'s site or the receiver'"'"'s site from successfully tampering with the attributes associated with the electronic work or the copy of the electronic work.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the step of exchanging authentication information between the receiver and the sender includes exchanging information between the receiver and the sender regarding the presence or nature of the sender'"'"'s protected computing environment and the receiver'"'"'s protected computing environment.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(h) sending a second acknowledgement from the receiver to the sender, the second acknowledgement indicating that the receiver successfully changed the attribute associated with the copy of the electronic work to indicate that it is an original;

(i) failing to receive the second acknowledgement at the sender'"'"'s site within a predetermined period of time following the sending of the authorization; and

(j) notifying a system administrator of said failure to receive the second acknowledgement.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiver'"'"'s site is operable to notify a system administrator if the receiver'"'"'s site fails to receive the authorization with a predetermined period of time following the sending of the first acknowledgement.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the electronic work is selected from the group consisting of:

ebooks, music, documents, bearer bonds, currency, movies, and software.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein at most one electronic work with an attribute indicating that it is an original exists at the sender'"'"'s site and the receiver'"'"'s site during the performance of steps (a) through (g).

9. A system for transferring an electronic work from a first location to a second location, the system comprising:

means for storing the electronic work at the first location, the electronic work having an attribute securely associated with it indicating whether the electronic work is an original or a copy;

means for sending a copy of the electronic work to a second location;

means for securely changing the attribute associated with the electronic work to indicate that the electronic work is a copy; and

means for securely sending an authorization to the second location, the authorization granting the second location the right to securely change an attribute associated with the second location'"'"'s copy of the electronic work to indicate that the second location'"'"'s copy of the electronic work is an original;

wherein at most one of said first location and said second location will possess the original electronic work at a given point in time.

10. The system of claim 9, further comprising:

means for receiving the copy of the electronic work from the first location at the second location;

means for storing the copy of the electronic work at the second location, the copy of the electronic work having an attribute securely associated with it indicating whether it is an original or a copy;

means for notifying the first location of the receipt of the copy of the electronic work;

means for receiving from the first location the authorization to securely change the attribute associated with the second location'"'"'s copy of the electronic work to indicate that it is an original; and

means for notifying the first location that the attribute was securely changed to indicate that the second location'"'"'s copy of the electronic work is an original.

11. The system of claim 9, further comprising:

means for notifying a third location if an acknowledgment is not received from the second location within a predetermined period of time following a sending of the authorization to the second location.

13. A method as in claim 12, further comprising:

receiving an acknowledgement from the second protected computing environment that the original electronic work and the tag were received.

14. A method as in claim 12, further comprising:

sending an error notification to a third protected computing environment if an acknowledgement is not received from the second protected computing environment within a predetermined period of time following the step of securely sending the original electronic work, and a tag indicating that it is the original, from the first protected computing environment to the second protected computing environment.

15. A method as in claim 14, wherein the third protected computing environment is operable to grant the first protected computing environment the right to change the tag associated with the copy of the electronic work to indicate that it is the original.

12. A method of transferring an original electronic work from a first protected computing environment to a second protected computing environment such that at most one instance of the electronic work is tagged as an original at a given point in time, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving, at the first protected computing environment, a request from the second protected computing environment to transfer the original electronic work;

determining, at the first protected computing environment, that the second protected computing environment possesses predetermined indicia of security;

securely making a copy of the original electronic work, the copy of the original electronic work having a tag securely associated with it indicating that it is a copy; and

securely sending the original electronic work, and a tag indicating that it is the original, from the first protected computing environment to the second protected computing environment.